


i'll be there

by zouistoner



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Alternate Timelines, Drug Addiction, Drug Use, Good Brother Diego Hargreeves, Klaus Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Mild Language, Mild Sexual Content, Other, Stupid thing I wrote, Violence, ben is somewhat in this but not really, dave isn't IN the story, he's in the background, i just wanted to post something on here and i love these two, kinda just a short, lots of rambling, the dave/klaus is past
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-16
Updated: 2019-06-16
Packaged: 2020-05-13 01:10:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19240786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zouistoner/pseuds/zouistoner
Summary: Klaus is struggling - again - and Diego's just hoping for a small victory.set in an alternate timeline where they saved the world without going back in the past.





	i'll be there

**Author's Note:**

> i come once a year with a new fandom and a new, short piece. i typically focus on writing my original work but sometimes a show just gets me and i end up back here.
> 
> this is set in a timeline where the gunshot itself stopped vanya, so there was no moon-exploding thing and they didn't have to go back in time. this takes place a few months later, where klaus has relapsed and everyone is back to kind of doing their own thing. i probably messed up some things but it's just something short i wrote because i loved the direction the show took of klaus and diego's relationship. 
> 
> writing a character like klaus always makes me ramble, so sorry if you get lost in all of my shit writing, haha. also, present tense is something new i've been trying, so it might be bad. you've been warned.

Klaus has never been the smartest of his siblings, though that’s not saying much.

He’s pretty low tier on the physical side of things as well – not to mention the stoic, brooding side that everyone else seems to have. Now, the funniest, Klaus will proudly take; the rest of his siblings have all the humor of a refrigerator. Except for maybe Vanya, who is surprisingly funny when she wants to be, which Klaus really wishes he had known earlier in life –

Too late now. 

But what’s really important is that Klaus is not the smartest, and he’s known and accepted it all his life, except for right now it seems to really fucking suck – what, with the aggressive man humping his leg and hissing in his ear, his hands wrapping around Klaus’s throat and squeezing, all because Klaus was stupid and high enough to offer to suck his dick in an alley. Klaus is all for a bit of choking in the right circumstances, totally, but right now the man seems to show no interest in stopping after Klaus has orgasmed, which really kills the séance’s vibe.

So, he tries to get the man’s beefy paws off, but it seems his slim fingers are no match for the man’s tighter grip, and Klaus is starting to accept that he’ll have another run-in with God – or maybe the devil, who the fuck knows, though he imagines Satan might like him, really, which means they might keep him – 

Then, his neck is released and Klaus can breathe, albeit rather sloppily. He has just enough energy to see some dark clad figure beating the head in of the man who had been choking him, and in his lingering high, Klaus wheezes a laugh.

“My favorite brother,” he chokes, tagging on a little, “shut up,” when Ben shoots him a glare. “You’ve come to save another damsel in distress?”

This is somewhat of a thing now, apparently. Diego keeping an eye on him, that is. Klaus is both amused and impressed with his timing.

Once Diego seems satisfied with his handiwork, he turns around. His gaze is almost mild, but Klaus knows him well-enough now to recognize the disappointment in his eyes. It sucks just a bit – reuniting with his siblings. It was hard enough constantly upsetting Ben; now Klaus has to face Diego’s brooding Stare of Doom, which is almost worse, because Diego is corporeal all on his own and can grab Klaus by the collar and shake him when he’s feeling annoyed with him.

Which he does now, to Klaus’s great bereavement. 

“Okay, okay!” he shouts, clutching Diego’s stronger hands. “Okay. Jesus, what’s wrong with you?”

“You! You are what’s wrong with me,” says Diego, angrily, and. Well. Ouch.

“I’m touched,” says Klaus, still dizzy from the lack of oxygen. “Will you let go of me now or were you looking to go a bit further?”

Diego shoves Klaus away. When Klaus glances up at him, he’s expecting an expression of disgust. Instead, Diego simply looks mournful, curious maybe, as if Klaus is some unique specimen he hasn’t gotten around to studying yet. Klaus has been feeling rather foreign to himself lately. He blames it on the whole ‘Dad dying and the world almost ending and losing Dave’ thing, but it’s been causing him to go more out of control than normal.

The silence is palpable, interrupted by Diego’s flat, “You’re welcome.”

Klaus laughs, head lolling back against the wall with a short hum. “Thanks.” He looks at Diego through half-lidded eyes, wishing he had a cigarette. “But you don’t have to save me. Actually, I’d prefer you didn’t. Some money, though – that’s something I could use. Or – do you have any cigarettes on you?” At Diego’s unwavering, flat gaze, Klaus continues, “I guess not – with your whole ‘body being a temple’ thing. Please, don’t even start.”

“You didn’t even try to fight back,” says Diego, which is just profoundly useless.

“I did!” Diego’s gaze is blank. “Well, what was I going to do? Look at him. He’s a tank!”

“You need to stop getting yourself in these situations, bro.”

Klaus gapes. “I’m hurt. You think I do this on purpose? Like I just have a grand old time being strangled by burly men – well, I guess I do sometimes, but not ever under these circumstances – he’s not even good-looking – ”

“Klaus!” Klaus stops talking. Diego looks thoroughly exhausted. “I’m just trying to look out for you.”

Klaus puts a hand over his chest, letting out a soft coo. “You always were my sweetest brother. Look at you,” he waves his hand at Diego’s outfit, “with all your innocent leather and superhero gear. Don’t you have someone else to be saving?”

Satisfied with how still the world is, no longer reeling, Klaus pushes himself away from the wall. He can probably nab some cigarettes from a corner store if he’s clever enough. 

“Where are you going?” Diego asks.

“Oh, you know – away.” Klaus waves his hand vaguely. “Lovely seeing you again.”

Diego’s eyes are soft, confused. “Oh. Are you going to come back around, sometime? We could go out for…” Diego cringes, “Waffles or something.”

Well, that’s odd. That’s certainly not how they do things, not since they’ve saved the world, at least, but Diego has always been a fairly odd member of their ragtag family – he was good, unlike their father, unlike Klaus. He supposes the rest of them were all a bit good, in some ways, though he could never quite figure out how that happened. Or why it hadn’t happened to him.

Either way, they don’t express interest in seeing one another again – they just do. In ways like this. Diego running into Klaus moments away from having his oxygen cut off completely.

Diego is trying. Klaus has not been trying at all, not since he’s realized that for some reason, he can’t conjure Dave, no matter how sober, how powerful. He isn’t sure if Dave’s lost amongst the ghosts that shove their way through, clawing at Klaus, begging him to help them, or if Dave’s just moved on, too peaceful in death to seek out Klaus. He supposes – given the timeline – Dave has been dead for around fifty years. Who’s to say – in his amazing, great stay at heaven or whatever – that Dave hasn’t forgotten about him?

It’s a troubling thought – one that Klaus is desperate to avoid. It’s something worse than the dead, worse than the sickness. Klaus is used to being forgotten – by his family, by lovers, etc. – but Dave – Dave hadn’t done that. They’d spent ten wonderful months together, and Klaus has never had that with anyone.

But here is Diego. Trying. And maybe it’s just for himself, because Diego has that whole savior complex thing, and maybe he feels like after all that’s happened, saving Klaus is a small victory. He knows Diego, knows Diego can’t stand to lose, to come second in anything. Diego won’t be able to save Klaus – but maybe, selfishly, Klaus wants to let him try.

“Sure, Dee,” says Klaus. “You know where to find me.”

Diego scoffs. Klaus really needs a cigarette.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading! kudos and comments are always appreciated.


End file.
